Sightseeing
by WheelerValentine
Summary: Mai travels to San Francisco for a dueling tournament and can't help but go back to the place that haunts her heart. It was time to face what she'd done, alone. But will she be alone for long, set 2 years after the pharaoh returns to the spirit world. Polarshipping fluff JoeyxMai rated T for safety no smut. Reviews are hugs for the soul!


Brace yourselves. Fluff is coming

Hi! Polarshippers! Right sorry about the delay with friends, Partners, lovers, but I got writers block. I don't intend to post an update until it's completely rewritten, so that will include some changed people may not be happy with. I'm trying to progress with my writing so bear with me polarshippers!

This could be a one shot, could be a story, I'll determine that based on reviews; if people want more I'll write it.

Another reason is that I now have a second favourite pairing. Gentleshipping - ValonxSerenity, there will be snippets of these in this story, so enjoy

**NO LEMONS**, there's no smut, some making out and a bit of suggestive language from Vivian but nothing even remotely graphic. Please review I do appreciate them, good or bad. Thanks!

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Another month, another tournament. The San Francisco derby had been set up by Kaiba Corp, another stop on to Kaibas new PPV Duelling network, every month a different tournament in a different city or country. Since the KC Grand prix Duelling had vastly become the world's top sport and form of entertainment. That came with a few perks for the 3 time Queen of Games Mai Valentine, ridiculously high pay checks; fame and she got to travel the world on kaibas tab. The notoriety was something she was getting used to, being approached for autographs every 10 minutes she was ok with. Even being called an idol, she was a proud woman, but was completely humbled by the attention she was receiving in the past year.

The cold weather and the need to avoid this constant attention meant she was sporting her usual attire, white shorts, camisole and white jacket with purple trim, with the addition of a long black trench coat. Vivan had known what had happened with Doma and insisted she visit the site of their last duel together. She didn't even have to say his name anymore. Her mind was never away from him, the dilemma of deeply longing for someone but being at peace that he would never forgive her, had left her sleepless and drained. The clouds overhead and become dark and threatened to burst at any minute, the rain wasn't concerning her; she hated the fact she knew exactly where she was going.

Her eyes went straight to a few placed cracks on the wall of one of the buildings, who made them skipped her memory, it could have been her or Valon, she remembered their Duel the single most physical and aggressive duel shed ever seen, she remembered the fear during Joey and Valons duel the noise of bones crunching and cracking, was something she had never even imagined until that moment. Valon had since moved onto circuits himself, he'd dropped the armour deck and started using a deck that was based on armed dragon cards.

"Damn pretty lady, what's a hot thing like you doing in this place"

Mai was snapped out of her daze by the voice behind her she turned to face two men one much larger than the other, at least 6ft, hitting at the least the 300lb mark, a dirty, stained grey hooded jacket with matching (stains and all) sweats. Not a hair to his name with a nose that had clearly been broken a lot more than she could picture, he eyed her up and down with black, blood shot eyes. The shorter one sniggered at the big guys comment and licked his lips staring at her, she'd seen eyes like his before dilated pupils dark rings blood shot, whatever this guy was shooting on, wasn't safe.

She maintained her composure, trying to play down the situation

"Sightseeing, so if you boys wouldn't mind I'd like to carry on"

"Only one thing you're finding around here girl and I got a hard one for...wait a minute, you're Mai Valentine! Forget it shay she's mine!"

The shorter mans breathing got heavy, fear was creeping up on her now. As he approached her

"I've dreamed of going one on one with you for a while hottie"

"Sorry I don't have my duel disk with me, looks like it'll have to be next time" she tamed the fear that was trying to creep in her voice. It took everything she had not to step away and remain firm.

"hahaha good one, come on honey I'm not talking cards here, let's have some real fun, it won't hurt, take it like a woman" his smirk grew, sure he was shorter than the other guy but he was the one she was worried about."

She found her back to the wall two hands placed either side she contemplated of her face a switch blade in his left hand, the blade was too close to her face for her to take a swing he'd slice her for sure. she closed her eyes turning her head to avoid his breath

"Shay you want some nex..."

"Get your filthy hands of her!" Mai felt the presence lift away from her opening her eyes she saw the man who was referred to as 'shay' flat on the floor, motionless. She knew the voice she turned to her left and was greeted to the shorter guy lifted off his feet pinned to the wall behind her, she couldn't breathe, the sandy brown hair, and the burning hazel eyes. He was here! His teeth where gritted his eyes close to psychotic she'd never seen him like that. Ever!

"what were you thinking of doing huh?, well I have a pretty good idea what to do with that blade now pal, how about I have some fun with it, how's that Sound!"

"Come on man, I was kidding, I wasn't gonna touch her, come on man please, just lemme go, I don't wanna die"

Joey launched him from the wall next to shay, he scrambled to wake up his accomplice, and he was far too heavy to move

"You ever try anything like this again you won't have legs to run away with ya hear me! And you don't wanna know what'll happen to what's in-between!"

Mai couldn't believe this was happening, the slightest bit of trouble and bam here he was, and he had changed somewhat, muscles had clearly been put through their paces and...Facial hair! His trademark sandy blonde hair had crept down the sides of his face to form stubble around his mouth and chin, and damn did he suit it, he looked...looked. Unbelievably handsome. She questioned herself, was that her longing for him, or maybe his need to protect her had her going all damsel in distress...not likely.

His shoulders rose and fell in the red leather jacket he was wearing his shoulders and biceps tense and agitated, she noticed him relax and turn towards her, she lowered her eyes, what could she say? Thank you, I'm sorry, I missed you, I love you maybe. She met his gaze soft brown eyes met violet.

Concern and care was all she saw in his eyes, he scanned her frame, checking for wounds or injuries.

"Mai Are you ok? Did they hurt you?"

"Huh? Oh, no they didn't. Thanks to you I guess. You have a nasty habit of being at the right place at the right time for me don't you?" she managed to crack a small smile at him.

He blushed furiously "dumb luck I guess. What are you doing here? This city's crawling with assholes like those two"

She looked away from him. "Trying to face what I did, trying to... "

"Torture ya'self Mai? Is that what you wanna do! You weren't to blame for what happened, heck neither was Val, Alistair or Raphael, it was that stone and damn snake thing! And those alone"

That fire was back again his soft hazel eyes burned with passion and determination, he panicked thinking he'd startled her, and dropped his head away from her startled gaze he was shaking again, why did she do this too him, what was he scared of what would he do if she left now? He didn't like the how strong the odds were on him crying.

A soft hand cupped the side of his face forcing his eyes up to meet hers. "Thank you Joey. Thank you for everything." Tears began to form at her eyes "And I'm so sorry for what I did to..."

"Mai, don't please. I made no attempt to find you after what happened with the shadows, you're the strongest woman in my life, but you can't be expected to go to hell and back again alone. You wouldn't have been targeted by Dartz if you hadn't of met me and you wouldn't have had to join him if I'd of been there for you...I...I'm the one who should be sorry"

His voice was breaking at the last part, tears where stinging his eyes, oh hell no he wasn't crying in front of her not now, no way. Rain started to pour as a silence grew between them Joey felt an unbearable tension. Mai felt her heart in her mouth. He blamed himself; she had so much to say to him, hard to get words out when you're hearts in your throat. She cupped the side of his face again. He kept his eyes closed tears were stinging at him

"Now or never" she whispered to herself.

Mai leaned in to him her lips finally connecting with his, he tensed before relaxing, and his arm circled her waist. She moved into his embrace arm circling his neck. Bravely he moved his tongue across her bottom lip, wanting permission to deepen the kiss, to which she was all more than happy to allow. He moaned quietly into the kiss as her hand found its way up the back of his shirt, once she realised she withdrew her hand quickly, too soon for that. Before their kiss could continue a flash of lightning and deafening thunder broke it for them. Joey looked around wide eyed startled by it. The rain was getting heavy, the start of a storm.

Mai pulled his face back down to hers rubbing noses with him for a second, he stole a quick kiss from her savouring the moment as best as he could.

The rain was thundering down the clouds angry with grey "We really need to get outa this weather, which hotel you staying at?" Joey asked rain dripping from the hair in front of his face

"Kaiba demanded all the duellists in the atlas" Mai was starting to pull up the collar up on her trench coat

"Pfft bossy, cheapskate, thought he'd get you somewhere better than that"

"It's a 5 star place Joey, quite classy actually. Alright hot shot where are you staying? Come to think of it I didn't see you on the duellist list...you're not representing Kaiba Corp are you Joey"

"I'm Kinda blacklisted from Kaiba Corp. a little misunderstanding with me and rich boy"

"Misunderstanding?" Mai cocked an eyebrow at him, he didn't need a reason to argue with Kaiba and it'd never gone as far for Kaiba to ban Joey from his tournaments.

"I'll explain a little later. O.k. with you if I nurse my paranoia and make sure you get back to your hotel safe. I don't wanna smother you Mai; I'm just a little edgy about leaving you alone in this city. And with your permission, we ok to catch up a bit more?"

"We do have a lot to catch up on...I'd love to. Though we can't go back to the atlas, its crawling with press inside and out, you'd be all over the papers tomorrow. And if your being here is supposed to be secret we may need to try an alternative"

He smirked at her, "Grand Pavilion it is"

Her mouth gaped at him. "Did you break in?"

He rolled his eyes in her direction "You're hilarious Mai. The guy who hired me got me a penthouse suite for this tournament, I'm going against Kaiba Corp in the opening Duel. Kaibas Chosen duellist versus the hottest...and at the minute wettest guy in duel monsters today."

"Wow your ego hasn't got any smaller has it?"

Joey gave her a smirk over his shoulder "after the amazing kiss I just got from the queen of games nothin, not even this weather could get to me right now." He shot her a wink, he looked amazing. The rain had made the black shirt cling to every muscle on his torso and arms tightly, the rain dripped from the tips of his sandy blond hair, droplets catching on the stubble around his nose and chin, he was taking her breath away. He called down a cab and asked the driver to take them to the Grand Pavilion hotel.

The ride to the hotel was a pleasant one, the driver was a huge fan of hers and Joeys, and promised not to mention he'd seen either of them if they'd both sign some stuff for his kids, he went on about how Joey was his sons hero, she ran her fingers through his noticing the stark bruises on his knuckles, he must have got those after knocking out the larger one of those animals earlier.

The cab approached a tall gleaming building, water cascaded down the walls of it the built in water walls fell in the letters GP, white marble and gold completed the furnishings to the outside while two gates opened to allow taxi's and other cars closer access; with clearance off course, Joey gave the driver his ID number which opened the gates and allowed passage to the lower entrance, before the cab came to a stop outside an illuminated lower entrance red carpet outside with golden revolving doors two security guards stood like statues either side.

"I appreciate you stopping for us, I know you guys aint supposed to stop downtown"

"It's my pleasure Mr Wheeler. You and Miss Valentine aren't my run of the mill passengers, and my kids will be overjoyed with your autographs"

"Tell you what pal, here call this number and say Joey gave it too ya, if you and your family are free tomorrow I can arrange tickets for the derby duel, you saved us a lot'a hassle picking us up"

Mai couldn't be outdone here "take these too, after our duels we'd be happy to meet you and your family again"

The Driver must have said thank you in seven different languages as (with protests from Mai) Joey paid the driver and quickly came around to open the door for her, he shot her a wink before helping her out of the cab.

The guards at the lower entrance scrambled to hold the door open for them both (mainly Mai), earning them a nod from Joey. They continued to the elevator, Joey swiped his card through opening a key panel; he entered a few number before it started to move. He was biting the side of his lip, his eyes focused

"Security seems pretty tight here, is that your...What's that look for"

"Huh? What look...*hmpf* security need to mind their own business"

He was sulking now; Mai leaned of the side of the elevator in the wet trench coat eyeing him to make sense of his mood, his strong amber eyes stared into her violet pools; side of his mouth turning into a grin causing the stubble around his chin to crease,

"Is this about those guards smiling at me?"

Joey said nothing simply leaned back against the other side of the elevator squeezing the side of his mouth shut, trying to avoid eye contact for this round. He bravely gave her a sulky glance, then instantly looked down

"I'm not going to have to get used to possessive Joey am I?"

Mai gave him a serious look, he looked up to her, and those gorgeous eyes were filled with uncertainty.

"...No, you won't I'm not like that, I just...It's just...this just feels to good to be true and, you could do bett..."

Before he could finish her lips where on his, her hands caressing his tight wet shoulders, his hand cupped her face, before finding its way into her soaked hair.

Their kiss was interrupted by the elevator door opening to the corridor leading to his room,

"firstly, men have tried all over the world, but I've always thought they were nothing compared to you, secondly, LOOK IN THE MIRROR!, your body's...well" Mai found herself running her hand up and down the front of his wet shirt, every muscle tensed under her touch "pretty good" she managed to say earning a small laugh into her ear.

Mai pushed Joey up to the back of the elevator pushing her body harder onto his

"Secondly, if you can't deal with men failing to even get me to notice they exist. How am I supposed to deal with crowds of thousands of screaming women, chanting your name or practically exploding at the thought of seeing you?"

Joeys breathing got heavy, the rain still dripping off his hair, his desperation for a kiss was getting worse; she gave him a gentle peck on the lips, a few moments passed as their eyes remained locked together

"Point taken, I'm yours. I always have been. I always will be" Joey sighed in defeat, before meeting her eye again. He could stare into those eyes all day, as could she. Joey walked forward out the elevator swiping his card through the handle placing his hand on the scanner, the door unlocked he opened the door slightly as he did mimicking the guards earlier.

"You're a comedian"

"I try" he followed in behind her, the room was huge, oak wood flooring stretched throughout the large lounge area. A marble table in the middle of 3 black leather couches were all set in front of a 50" plasma TV, three rooms snaked off the main area, a large white rug broke the oak design in front a log wood fireplace. The far side of the room was almost entirely glass panels, a stunning view overlooking the city, including the San Francisco Bridge.

Joey shrugged off his red jacket, hanging it on the side before taking her trench coat and doing the same, it hit him, getting out of those wet clothes for him wasn't a problem, and Mai couldn't stay in those wet clothes.

"Mai you can't stay in those wet clothes you'll catch a cold! I have a few spare shirts an stuff, but they'd be huge on ya."

Mai smiled taking off her small jacket too and placing it with the black trench coat on the hook

"I'll call Viv ask her to send me some dry clothes since I won't be able to go back to the atlas myself for a while, how she's going to get them into this place is another thing"

"Dats cool I can call Izzy; he's like an assistant for me in this tournament while I have to be on the down low. Tell him the place he can pick up what you need"

"You, with an assistant? How many fast food runs has he done for you in the last few hours?"

He cocked an eyebrow at her giving her his best unimpressed look. Mission failed he saw those glittering violet eyes and melted into a smile.

"I'll have you know the room service here is, free for me, and pretty damn good. Also he's more like my keeper well a gremlin making sure I don't escape this place...well at least until they find out its actually me in this tournament"

"And he did a fantastic job considering you ended up where you did. Good thing too"

He saw a glimpse of worry in her eyes that he didn't like, he'd always had a primal need to be within two feet of her, but since he'd found again he hated having to let her out of his sight. She wasn't experiencing fear anymore. Never.

"Mai, I'm gonna take a shower if you wanna call Vivian. I'll only take a few minutes and then ill arrange Izzy to pick up whatever you need."

Mai started dialling her cell; Vivian was probably worried about her. She turned back to Joey entering the bathroom and was greeted with a glimpse of his bare back; perfectly sculpted. A selection of scars caught her attention. They had a lot to talk about, she wouldn't ask about those today.

"Hi Vivian, I need a favour"

"MAI!, WERE ARE YOU!, I NEED MY WING WOMAN!"

"I'm...with Joey"

"..."

"Viv?"

"Oh. My. God. You found him! Have you kissed? Where are you? is he still hot? Why's he here? Have you two had se-"

"VIVIAN!, give me a second I'll explain all a little later I need you to pack some things for me, dry set of clothes and my makeup, someone will be by to coll-"

"You want the red lingerie going in to? Purple, oooo red with black trim, his favourite colour right?"

Mai had her hand on her face, and started counting back slowly from ten, she loved Vivian, but her she had a mind like a tractor, the more she used it. It just got dirtier

"Vivian, you really need to fix that crack in your brain because only one thing's coming from it. Please, leave my bag at the front desk, ok."

"Fineeee, ill cover you, it'll be at the desk in ten, so you and lover boy can have a nice night...that means I can bring someone back right?"

"Not on my bed Vivian!"

"I would never do that!"

"You nearly did, in Spain!"

"He was hot, you're lucky you weren't in the room, I wouldn't have slowed down"

"I believe you, I'll call you tomorrow ok, be careful Vivian"

"Fine Valentine I'll be careful, and be wing woman of the year. One condition Mai."

"O.k..." Mai dreaded that. She was not double dating; she didn't like dating at all, the publicity made it almost impossible Vivian was not one to ignore a good time.

"You have to give me full details on how...powerful Joeys dragon really is"

"Goodbye Vivian"

Mai hung up, Vivian knew about her and Joey hence why flirting with him was always a no go. She'd tried and tried to get Mai to go the KC Grand Prix to no avail. she wished she had, this could have all come sooner.

Joey emerged from the bathroom behind her a rush of steam following him he'd dried his hair and was in nothing but a pair of stone washed jeans, torn slightly at the knees and shins. Mai held composure; his body resembled an Adonis, his scars stood out from his skin. She paid them no attention.

"I called Vivian my things will be waiting at the atlas"

"Cool, I'll call Izzy now" Joey handed her a white shirt and pair of grey shorts, blushing as he did. Mai was smiling as she took the items from him.

"Just until you're other stuff arrives...I,I don't want you getting sick is all. Ders a hair dryer and everythin' in there" before she could take the items she leaned in and met his lips with hers, he kept his grip on the clothes keeping her in the kiss a while longer muffling her laugh with his mouth. Eventually the kiss pulled away, before Mai left his company and went into the bathroom.

Joey finished arranging the drop off of Mais' belongings; he set his cell phone down on the side.

Making his way to the window he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, the steam from the shower made the scars on his arms and torso look paler and stark against his skin. Each one; failure, disgust, hatred. Self consciousness came over him, Mai must have noticed them. He searched through his case a sense of urgency rising as he did. Grabbing a white buttoned shirt he slipped it on quickly, usually he hated anything to do with suits, he had to have one but avoiding it became a hobby.

Where was this going? Mai was here. Check. She kissed him, which means something. Check. Was she gonna leave after this tournament...? His head started spinning. He loved Mai with everything he had; he didn't care what had happened. He honestly couldn't be less concerned. Would she accept his scars, the things he's done, there was only one way to find out. And he was about to try it. He heard the bathroom door open up behind him.

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O.k. so I just decided this is going to be a few chapters long, still no smut, but I want to progress into Joey's background a bit more, and there's more relationship progression and the entry of a few more characters, the 2nd chapter is almost done, but i don't want to post until I get a bit of feedback on this one.

Thanks Guys

M Strife


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